News

INJURY UPDATE: Chaves’ season to conclude early after crash in Emilia

Sat 30 Sep 2017

The 2017 season has come to a premature conclusion for Colombian climber Esteban Chaves after the ORICA-SCOTT rider suffered a heavy fall inside the final 10kilometres of Giro dell’Emilia in Italy on Saturday.

Chaves was attempting to chase down eventual winner Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain-Merida) in support of teammate Jack Haig when he lost control on a bend and crashed heavily on his right side.

Chaves was taken to hospital where X-rays revealed a fracture of the shoulder blade. Despite clear brain scans, the 27-year-old will spend the night in hospital under observation having also experienced a heavy hit to the head.

The 2016 Il Lombardia champion expressed his disappointment to end the season on this note but remained his distinctive positive self.

“This is not how I wanted to finish my 2017 season, especially without the opportunity to return to Lombardia after such special memories last year, but this is the way it is and we now focus on the recovery and next season,” Chaves said from hospital.

“It’s just a bone and there are much bigger challenges in life, we are lucky. We will return from this and I’m looking forward to a new year in 2018.

“I want to thank the team and the hospital staff for looking after me so well and to the fans for all of their kind messages and thoughts. It means a lot, thank you. I am good.”